


Gestures

by Residesatshamecentral



Category: SS-GB (TV)
Genre: Coffee breaks, Huth is an idiot, Weber the nice nazi, awawardness, discussions, unsolicited nice geastures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 02:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11072514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Residesatshamecentral/pseuds/Residesatshamecentral
Summary: Huth overhears a conversation





	Gestures

“- Wouldn’t be surprised if you earned yourself an Iron Cross at this rate” said Weber.

Archer sipped his coffee and shook his head. “Not at all sure I would deserve that” he said “or if I did get one it would be for all the wrong reasons.” Weber frowned and cocked his head. He had a thin, brown, intelligent face, handsome in a changeable way that seemed to reflect his inner life more than was usual. Archer did not exactly trust Weber – trust was a luxury he was trying to wean himself off – but he liked him a great deal. At present the other man was perched on the edge of his desk, nursing a cup of coffee and looking at Archer at though puzzling him out.

“I don’t see” said Weber slowly “how anyone could fault you over your work, really. Maybe you feel too many civilians got hurt…” Archer’s face became a blank “but you couldn’t be blamed for that. You did your best. And you prevented disaster, real disaster, didn’t you? Everyone was talking about it. They don’t say so but they admire you. Everyone. You deserve recognition for that.”  

Archer took another sip and reflected for a moment. “I don’t consider myself admirable” he said flatly. “If anyone deserves admiration, Huth does.”

In the next room, a figure stiffened momentarily, and then slowly continued to sort silently through files. It now had the air of an animal with its ears pricked up.

“He had far less to do with it” said Weber, doubtfully.

“I know” said Archer “but legwork and decision-making are very different areas of work. When you are in among these rebels and everything is life or death for you, you often find that the hard decisions are made for you, or you have made them already, or there was never any choice in the first place -” Weber was frowning as though this made little sense to him “- everything happens quickly and at high stakes, you have no real breathing room. So you tend to just move forward and do the job you have to do. Huth though, he has the  _really_  hard job. It takes real fortitude to do what he does. And he carries it off really well.”

In the next room, the figure turned its head to the door as though craning to hear more of this.

“Huth has to sit back, deliberate, then make the hard decision” continued Archer “he has to put his name to the document, and send it off. Ever considered the sort of inner strength you need to do that? It is not about being callous. It is about weighing the situation and taking the decision on yourself. And in addition, he has to be a soldier, be everything an officer needs to be, and never show weakness at those moments when – being human – he must be just ready to drop, or scream his head off. Now there’s someone worthy of admiration.”

The man in the next room had completely forgotten his paperwork.

Weber considered this speech for a moment and gave a doubting smirk. “Most of the fellows would just call your boss an intimidating, overworked bastard” he said.

Archer chuckled. “Well, you can also see it that way” he said. The two men finished their coffee.

…………..

Over the next few days, Archer counted six peculiarities in Huth’s behaviour, all of which totalled up into a worrying phenomenon that he tried in vain to analyse.

  1. The cup of hot coffee always left waiting for him which no-one else, it turned out, was responsible for.
  2. The offer, quite out of the blue, to find him a better, more efficient assistant, since the current dogsbody left loose ends that he had to tie up.
  3. The brand-new, expensive gun, bought for him personally and left without comment in a box on his desk.
  4. The sudden use in conversation of the words “please” and “thank you.”
  5. The unexpected orders to go home early “because you are no use to me tired, Archer.”
  6. The disconcerting, soft look in his eyes, that he kept catching when he turned to find Huth watching him. In a lesser man it would almost be called… _soppy_?



Sitting at his desk, Archer set out the symptoms like unconnected factors in a case and tried to deduce the cause. Nothing came to mind. He had done nothing to make Huth’s attitude soften that he knew, so that left the cause an unknown. Archer did not like unknowns, not when they impacted intimately on his working relationships.

The door banged open and Huth strode into the room.

“Get me the Schneider file would you?” he muttered.

“At once sir.” Archer pulled it deftly and handed it over. Huth pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and compared it with a document in the file. He smiled. Taking a Primary Arrest Sheet from the drawer he signed it and placed it in the out box, slipping the scrap into the file and handing it back.

“I think we have nearly seen the end of that case” he gave Archer a grin. “Things look set to quiet down now we are mopping up the last of that cell. Your friend Weber had a point you know, you deserve that Iron Cross and I mean to see that you get it.”

Archer had been examining the scrap in the file. His head whipped up. “…You were in that day sir?” he said eventually.

There was a long pause. The ticking clock and the sound of birds outside suddenly seemed very loud.

“I had to drop by to retrieve some paperwork” said Huth eventually. He suddenly seemed as stiff as a mannequin. “I was only in for ten minutes or so.”

“I had no idea sir.”

“I was not eavesdropping.” Seeming to recover from his embarrassment, Huth flashed a challenging smile his way. “What you said was perfectly accurate, of course.” He patted Archer’s shoulder “One day you will have to do the same I am sure.”

“I would hope not, sir.”

“Well, hopes are constantly disappointed.” Huth paused by the door “I meant it about the iron cross. Merit should be recognised, Archer.” He left.

Archer tried to do paperwork for the next ten minutes. Eventually he gave up and went to get himself a coffee. He checked the adjoining room carefully, just in case.  

 


End file.
